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Copywriting Services London

Archive for the 'Marketing' category

How to choose an SEO company or SEO consultant. (Read this before parting with a penny.)

17th
Aug
by Sarah Turner

Let me come right out and say it: there are a lot of SEO companies out there that are full of bull.

I had such a company email me out of the blue last week. They advised me that they had studied my website (yeah, right) and were concerned that I was not ‘appearing on the major search engines’. Not only that, but apparently, I had ‘very few inbound links’. Utter baloney.

A different company contacted a client of mine to tell him that Google had only cached 9 pages of his website which would adversely affect his search engine position. His website only has 9 pages! And he’s on page 1 of Google for every keyphrase we optimised his web pages for!

It seems that even Google can’t avoid these scammers.

“Dear google.com,
I visited your website and noticed that you are not listed in most of the major search engines and directories…”

Hilarious!

So if you get approached by an SEO company, or you’re in the process of interviewing an SEO company or consultant, this is what you need to know.

1. What other companies have they worked with? How are those websites performing? What keywords are they getting found for? What position do those sites achieve on Google? Ask for a contact at the company they’ve worked for and call them for a testimonial.

2. What search engines are their clients’ sites getting found on? Sure, Bing (formerly MSN) has recently purchased Yahoo Search in a bid to increase its market share. But let’s be honest, Google is the one you want to get found on. Being top of AltaVista, Excite or Lycos is all very well but collectively they have about 0.1% of the global market. Probably not enough to influence your bottom line much.

3. Ask to see a copy of the keyword research they’ve done for you and ask them why they’ve recommended the keywords they have. Remember, you want keywords or keyphrases which are searched for but are not so competitive that there are 1.5 million other sites with that phrase in their page title. Nor do you want to be found at the top of Google for a really offbeat phrase that absolutely no-one is searching for. It’s somewhere in the middle.

4. How are they going to include the keywords or phrases in your copy? Are they going to employ a copywriter to weave the keywords magically into the copy? Or is someone in the office just going to plonk the keywords any old how into the text? (Tip: you want the first one.)

5. Insist your SEO company sign an agreement not to do any work for your competitors. Why should you pay for keyword research and have your competitors benefit?

6. Make sure they give detailed monthly reports and stats. And ones that are easy to understand. You want to see a steady month on month improvement in your search engine rankings. And you want to know what keywords or keyphrases people are using to find your site.

7. Ask them if they actually monitor and analyse your stats? What are they going to do if the site isn’t performing well for the chosen keywords? What’s plan B?

8. Are they going to run a link campaign? Inbound links (links coming into your site) are as equally important for SEO as content. Google assesses a site by the content of the site and the number of quality inbound links there are. And if they are going to run a link campaign, what type of links do they hope to obtain?

 

SEO is not smoke and mirrors. Any SEO bods worth their salt are going to tell you exactly what they’re doing and what they hope to achieve. Remember, no-one can guarantee you top of page 1 of Google.  

A client told me last week that they’re paying £300 a month to an SEO company but they’re not sure what they’re getting for that. That’s £3600 a year and they’re not sure what they’re paying for? Before handing over a penny ask the questions above. If the SEO company or consultant starts muttering and getting all weird, run for the hills. Your money is better spent elsewhere.

Shameless plug: For keyword research, PPC, competitor analysis, link building campaigns and a bunch of other cool stuff, I can highly recommend Rob Dobson at SEM London. (Please note: he’s really good which means he’s always stupidly busy. I have to book him in two months in advance to work with my clients!)


Tags: seo company, seo writing
Posted in How to, Marketing, Website & SEO copywriting | comments icon 1 Comment »

It’s all in the name: how famous brands got their names

22nd
Jul
by Sarah Turner

Did you know that Google was originally called BackRub? Or Yahoo was going to be called Jerry’s Guide? This month’s The Marketer takes a look at how some of our fave brands got their names. And which brands have changed their names – and not always for the better.

Ebay got its name when its founder Pierre Omidyar discovered that the domain name for Echo Bay, his web consulting company, was already taken. While Haagen-Dazs, started by New Yorker Reuben Mattus is a completely made-up ‘European sounding’ name. (And how many of you thought it was spelt Haagen-Daaz?)

Portmanteaus and acronyms seem to be popular. German supermarket chain Aldi comes from a portmanteau of the founder’s name, Albrecht, and discount. While, the famous cinema chain, Odeon is an acronym of Oscar Deutsch Entertains Our Nation.

So how about the ubiquitous Starbucks? Apparently, it was named after the coffee loving first-mate in Moby Dick. Although naming it after the ship in the book was vetoed pretty early on. As an associate of founder Gordon Bowker pointed out, ‘no one’s going to drink a cup of Pee-quod!’

Some famous brands have changed their names of course. Who can forget the demise of Opal Fruit and Marathon in favour of Starburst and Snickers? (Just for the record: Opal Fruits were juicer!)

Tokyo Tsoshiu Kogyo KK was thankfully renamed Sony. A combination of the Latin for sonus meaning sound, and sonny, American slang for youngster. While moisturiser Oil of Olay has been known as Oil of Ulay in the UK, Oil of Ulan in Australia, and Oil of Olaz in Europe, before it was standardised in 1999.

So how about the renames that weren’t successful? Remember The Post Office? It changed its name to Consignia. Only to change it to The Royal Mail less than a year later.

Tough sounding British Steel merged with Dutch steel company Hoogovens NV and became the forgettable The Corus Group. While the jury’s still out on Norwich Union’s name change to Aviva. A name described by the Guardian newspaper as sounding like a vitamin pill.

How did Turner Ink get its name I hear you ask? Well it sort of sounded familiar because of Ted Turner’s Turner Inc. And I chose the ink bit as it sounded ‘writerish’. Although, the last time I wrote anything with a pen was about 5 years ago. And the amount of calls I get asking “d’ya sell ink cartridges for HP printers?” is unbelievably annoying.

So how did your company get its name? Share your story in the comments.


Tags: branding, brands
Posted in Marketing, Word stuff | comments icon 8 Comments »

Making headlines. An interview with PR Superstar Jill Kent

16th
Jul
by Sarah Turner

This month’s chat, over a mint tea and latte, is with Jill Kent of PR Superstar fame, who manages to hit the headlines for all the right reasons.

Turner Ink: Hey Jill. Thanks for dropping by. So how do you go about developing a PR strategy for your clients? What’s the first thing you do?

PR Superstar: Well a good PR Strategy is all about effectively communicating key messages, about a brand or a personality, to its target audiences. That’s it in a nutshell. So the first thing I do is sit down with a client and get a full briefing to find out all about them, their business, and their goals. PR isn’t about boosting business egos, it’s about boosting business growth.

TI: Now I know you’re super successful; I’m always seeing your clients in the media. But what’s been your most successful PR campaign to date?

PR: I’ve had many successful PR campaigns, from getting clients on to national and international TV, such as the BBC, Sky News and CNN right through to securing coverage in well-respected newspapers and magazines, such as The FT, The Times, The Telegraph, Esquire, GQ, Vogue and Marie Claire. There’s been a few.

TI: So, how did you come to work in PR? What’s your background?

PR: Well, I’m proud to say that I’m a journalist by trade, a fully qualified senior reporter. I moved into PR after nearly a decade as a journalist because I fancied a new challenge. But after scaling the dizzy heights of chief reporting for one of the UK’s biggest-selling newspapers, I had to start at the bottom of the PR ladder as a publicity assistant. It took me another few years to become a PR and communications director.  

TI: How has the PR industry changed in the last 5 years? And how will the PR industry develop in the next five years, do you think?

PR: PR has changed enormously and Social Media is now hugely influential. PR Week, my industry bible, is obsessed with Twitter in particular! The online world has opened up so many possibilities for PR agencies and their clients and it’s all very exciting. I think Social Media and its use as a PR tool will only continue to grow at phenomenal rates.

With the recession, many PR agencies have had to make cutbacks and redundancies. Some have even closed. The pressure is now on for agencies to deliver real value-for-money campaigns that have a real impact on their clients’ bottom-lines. And that can only be a good thing.

TI: Talking of Social Media, are you managing online PR campaigns as well? Are you getting involved with Twitter and Facebook?

PR: With my background as a print journalist, I am a traditional PR specialist working with newspapers, magazines, TV and radio. I do, however, work closely with online PR and marketing experts who handle the Social Media side of things for my clients. I stick to what I do best!

TI: But with the rise of Social Media, do you think the traditional news release is on its way out?

PR: No, I don’t think so, not yet. It’s still a popular way of telling a client’s story. Journalists are always asking for them when I call. The release must be newsworthy though!

TI: Do you use services like PR Newswire or Business Wire to send news releases?

PR: No, I have my own trusted network of media contacts at local, regional, national and international level. Good PR is all about targeting and I like to decide who gets what and keep some control over it. My PR is bespoke. This way I negotiate many regional and national exclusives for clients that other media then pick up on and run with.

TI: Do still need to have great relationships with newspaper editors to get good coverage? Does that involve boozy lunches?

PR: Ha, ha, no, not at all! To get good coverage, you need to have a ‘nose for news’ i.e. a strong sense about what makes a good story. It wouldn’t matter how many expensive dinners editors and journalists were treated to, if they’re not interested in the story that’s that.

TI: So tell me Jill, why should a company hire a PR professional?

PR: Nearly all of my clients have tried to do their own PR and failed. Good PR is an art. If you want big chunks of impressive coverage in your target media that are on-message and make people want to buy your product or service, it’s best to hire a PR pro.

TI: Have you ever had to handle a crisis for a client? What happened?

PR: Yes, many! I’ve PR’ed for large local authorities, government departments and one of the biggest police forces in the UK, so there’s always something going on – or should I say going wrong!

I’ve had to deal with the media fall-out of suspended teachers and council officials; terror suspects held at Guantanamo Bay; old folk dying in council care; and police officers accused of brutality and fraud. The list is endless! Crisis PR teaches you to try to seek out all possible scenarios about what can go wrong and then prepare for them as best you can. That’s not always possible. So if a crisis does happen, the PR machine should swing into action and be seen to act swiftly, whether it’s imparting crucial information to the public or issuing a full and frank apology.

TI: There seem to be so many releases sent out with grammar and punctuation errors. Does it matter that PRs get this wrong?

PR: Yes, absolutely! At the end of the day, we’re representing a business, brand or personality and we have to be the consummate professional. It’s not only our reputation on the line, it’s that of our client too. Besides, we’re lucky enough to be wordsmiths for a living and there’s no excuse for not getting it right.

TI: Well I totally agree with that. So tell us about your typical week. Is there a typical week?

PR: There isn’t such a thing. One day I can be working with Today’s Golfer, Sailing Today and Rugby World magazines. And the next I’m working with Vogue, Elle and Tatler. Or one minute I can be working with local press like the The Wimbledon Guardian or The Richmond and Twickenham Times. And the following day I’m talking to The Sun and The Independent.

My clients also vary enormously – they include an award-winning estate agent, a Harley Street celebrity therapist; a big e-commerce retailer; a British beauty guru; SMEs; and big corporates. I enjoy the variety of clients and variety of media.

TI: What are PR Superstar’s plans for the future?

PR: To keep delivering great PR for my clients. PR that makes a difference to their bottom-line, that’s what it’s all about at the end of the day. I want PR Superstar to be well-known for quality campaigns, hard work, dedication and honesty. I’d also like to be in a similar position to Max Clifford who apparently doesn’t pitch for any work!

TI: That would be nice! So what are the three most important things for a successful PR campaign?

PR: Right three things. I’d say innovation, creativity and dynamism.

TI: And finally Jill. How do people who want great PR get hold of you?

PR: They can call us on 020 8274 0807 or visit the PR Superstar website. Thanks Sarah. 

 
Jill Kent PR SuperstarPR Superstar founder, Jill Kent is a highly experienced senior journalist and PR professional with nearly twenty years’ experience in the media world.

Her journalist-led public relations consultancy is focussed on getting the benefits of a business across to target markets; boosting profiles and sales; and business growth.

South London entrepreneur Richard Reid said, “we were featured on national TV and radio, and splashed across the regional and national press soon after we started working with PR Superstar! They exceeded my expectations with first-class media coverage for my three businesses.”


Tags: pr, press releases, public relations
Posted in Interviews with cool people, Marketing, Press Release writing and PR | comments icon No comments yet »

How to get going on Twitter (or I’ve just opened an account, now what?)

13th
Jul
by Sarah Turner

During the last six months Twitter has gone crazy. In fact 75% of the tweeps now using Twitter have only joined this year. There are loads of articles, blog posts and forums all writing about Twitter and how great it is for business.  

But this post is a quick and practical guide to actually using Twitter. And follows a call I had from a friend and colleague this week who said ‘I’ve just opened a Twitter account. Now what?’  

So. You’ve opened your account. And I’m assuming you’ve used your real name where it says name and your company name where it says username. Your username will be the name that shows in all your tweets so it’s worth not choosing something daft.

Stage 1 Do all the admin bits
Click on Settings and under Account make sure
1. You’ve got a link to your website (you want potential followers to see what you’re all about, don’t you?)
2. You say where you are in the world. This will make it easier for people to find you by location.
3. You’ve got a great bio. Explain in as few words as possible what you do, what you’re offering or what you can do to help. Don’t be all serious and corporaey here. But give it some thought. This is the first time someone is meeting you on Twitter. So don’t sound like a loon.

Click on Picture and make sure
4. You have a great picture. Of you. And not the company logo. People want to chat to a real person, not a brand. Your pic should be face on and ideally make you not look like a felon.

Click on Design and
5. Choose something other than the standard blue. See Twitip’s excellent post on creating custom Twitter backgrounds. 

Click on Notices and
6. Choose whether you want to be notified by email every time someone follows you or sends a direct message. This is your call. (I have them all ticked so I don’t miss anything.)

Right. What next. Write tweets with no followers? Or start following people in the hope they follow you even though you have no tweets?

Aaaah. The proverbial chicken and egg. I’m going with following first. But get some tweets on there pretty darn quick as well.

Stage 2 Start following
Start following people you know pretty well. They will probably take pity on you and follow you back. So click on Find people and search for their name or email address.

Also look for people in your industry or community. And see who they’re following. Anyone interesting? Click the follow button. You might want to follow some big ‘uns. I follow BBC Click, Guardian Tech and Google, as Turner Ink is into that sort of thing.  

Remember you can easily unfollow at some point in the future.

Note on following: Quite oddly you’ll get people following you almost straight away. But before you get excited, there are bits of software that automatically follow people. Bah. So before you follow back, take a look at their Twitter bio and their profile page. What are they tweeting about? Anything good? Or useful? Or to do with your industry? If so follow them. If not ignore them. If they look like they’re porn stars, sellers of dodgy medicines or claim they can earn you a $1 million in five minutes, block them. Just click on followers, click the actions button next to their name and click block. You don’t want these tweeps in your community.

Stage 3 Get tweeting
Ok get tweeting. About what though? You might want to think about your Twitter strategy before you set up your account. And decide how many hours a day you can commit to Twitter. Just kidding. But be aware that Twitter can be more addictive than crack. So be strict with your time.

Now, if you’re using Twitter for business you might want to avoid tweeting ‘I’ve just got up.’ Especially if it’s midday. Or ‘It’s a beautiful day.’ Or ‘I’m really hungover.’ Do people really want to know this? I think not. You can show your personality or course. And you should. But try and make it work related or useful and interesting to your followers.  

And don’t forget: Once you start tweeting don’t give up! Don’t write heaps of tweets in the first week and then abandon it. You gotta keep going with it. It’s the law.  

Stage 4 Get TweetDeck
Right. Next step. Abandon the Twitter website and download TweetDeck. This is a cool application which makes it really easy to see all your tweets, mentions and direct messages.

Note: There are a few other apps so have a play around and see which one you like best.  

tweet-deck-screenshot

Ok, if you’ve picked TweetDeck, take a look at the far left column. This shows all the tweets from people you’re following. If you hover above a picture you’ll see four little buttons come up. If you want to send a reply to a tweet just click on the top left button (the backward arrow).

tweet-deck-image-2

So @kevgibbo would appear at the beginning of my tweet in the message box. Now in the old days an @reply could been by all the people following Turner Ink. It was public. This has changed quite recently (it may well change again so keep an eye out on the Twitter website) and now @replies can only be seen by people who are following both me and Kevin. Phew confusing or what? It just means people can follow a conversation more easily and not see half of it.  

Click on the bottom left button (the arrow) and RT @kevgibbo now appears in the message box. This is a retweet. It’s a bit like forwarding an email from a friend to all your other friends. So if someone you’re following writes a good tweet or includes a really interesting link, and you want to share it, just click the retweet button.

Note on retweeting: Retweeting is a great way of building relationships and someone is more likely to retweet your stuff if you retweet theirs.

A retweet can be seen by all the people that are following you. If someone retweets one of your tweets (RT @TurnerInk ), or replies (@TurnerInk) or mentions you in a tweet (Ha ha @TurnerInk is hilarious) these will all appear in the Mentions column, so you can see at a glance who’s sharing your stuff or tweeting about you.

Click on the top right button (the envelope) to send a direct message. So the tweet would now start D @kebgibbo and only Kevin would see the message. The message would appear in my Direct Messages column. And it would appear in Kevin’s Direct Messages column. 

The bottom right button is other actions. These include looking at someone’s profile, unfollowing and adding to a group.

If your tweet includes a link to a blog post you’ve found, or a news article you’ve enjoyed, just chuck the URL into the box where it says shorten URL and click the double arrows box to the right. This will – guess what? – shorten the URL so you don’t use all your 140 characters up in one go.

For more on using Tweetdeck check out 1st Web Designer’s brilliant blog. Note that the Replies column is now called Mentions on the latest version of TweetDeck.  

Stage 5 Be nice
Share information. Have conversations. Enjoy a bit of banter. Ask questions. But don’t try and sell. Trying to flog your wares straight away on Twitter is a turn-off.

If someone retweets (RT) you say thank you. If someone direct messages you (D) tweet them back. If someone puts out a question, answer it.

Take a look at Tec N’ Marketing’s blog post, 11 things to avoid on Twitter for more on Twitter etiquette.    

And most of all have fun. Twitter is a handy little tool. Enjoy it.   

More reading:
Grab yourself a copy of Paul Chaney’s Complete Guide to Twitter for Business which is now free to download. 

Also check out immediate future’s Guide to Twitter for PR and Marketing Professionals. Also free to download.

And finally, a mighty long list of Twitter terms and tools from Sitemasher. 

Are you already using Twitter for business? How’s it going?  Share your success stories or tips in the comments section.


Tags: twitter
Posted in How to, Marketing, Social media | comments icon 6 Comments »

All about Twitter: An interview with Rob Brown

9th
Jul
by Sarah Turner

A couple of weeks back I had a chat with Rob Brown about all things Social Media. During the interview I came over all excited when I started talking about Twitter which, for those of you that follow me, know I love, love, love. (Curiously, I was at a networking event the other week and was asked did I work for Twitter, such was my enthusiasm.)

Anyway, here’s what I had to say to Rob about Twitter, tweeting, and Tweetdeck.

Just click on the link below to listen. It’s only about ten minutes long.

Sarah Turner talks about Twitter (MP3)

rob-brown-personal-marketing-expertRob Brown is an inspirational conference speaker, a regular on TV and radio, and has written  over 70 publications on business relationships, reputations and marketing including ‘How to build your reputation’.


Tags: twitter
Posted in Interviews with cool people, Marketing, Social media | comments icon 1 Comment »

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